Esteban Ocon says he would be keen to join Williams Martini Racing in 2019 should the opportunity arise, with the Frenchman insisting the Grove-based outfit will come back stronger after a very trying 2018 season.

Between the two drivers Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, Williams has only scored seven points in the opening eighteen races of the season, and with just three rounds of the season to come in Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi, it looks increasingly likely that they will finish bottom of the Constructors’ Championship, sitting as they are twenty points behind the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team.

However, Ocon would take the seat alongside fellow Mercedes-Benz protégé George Russell if a deal to join Williams is presented to him, although he still faces stiff competition for the seat from their current driver Sirotkin and reserve driver Robert Kubica.

“I’m definitely very keen,” Ocon is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “I don’t think it’s a team that’s going down.

“Obviously the results they are doing this year are not great, but Williams has been world champion in the past, they’ve been fighting hard with us last year.

“I think it’s a very competent team, and every team has its ups and downs. I’m sure they will come back higher in the future.”

Ocon currently sits eleventh in the Drivers’ Championship in 2018 with just those three final races of the season to come, and is just twelve points behind Renault Sport Formula One Team‘s Nico Hülkenberg in seventh.